When outer packages are loaded in an automated manner with article groups, such as beverage cases or boxes with beverage containers, and also when articles or article groups are removed from outer packages in an automated manner, it is important to position the handling devices used for this purpose, which can be formed, for example, by gripper heads with controllable bottle grippers, precisely above the outer packages to make sure that the articles, containers, or bottles are seized and removed from the outer packages or positioned in the outer packages with the required precision. If boxes with openable or closeable top flaps, for example, are used as outer packages, the position or the contour of the top opening can vary according to the handling and/or the condition of these collapsible boxes, in particular, in the instance of outer packages being used several times.
It is optionally possible to carry out the automated loading of the outer packages with articles or the automated removal of articles from the outer packages in a discontinuous manner, which involves having to stop the outer packages or beverage cases typically transported in an uninterrupted product stream by conveyor belts or other horizontal conveying devices for each loading or removal process, even if they are transported at continuous conveying speed in the remaining course of the process. A continuous removal or loading with outer packages moving in an unchanged or a decelerated manner, while a handling device, such as a gripper head, removes or introduces the articles there, is however also possible.
Reusable boxes have proven to be particularly problematic in terms of dimensional accuracy or form stability, as they are frequently more or less worn and gradually lose their form stability after only a few removal or loading and rotation cycles.
When cardboard box containers are used as outer packages, it has generally turned out to be necessary to hold open the opened top flaps during the conveyance of the outer package and at least during an introduction process or removal process so that the flaps are not in an undefined position or, in the worst case, even folded in and thereby close the opening of the box, which would inevitably lead to a collision of a gripper head with the top flaps and thus to a disturbance in the handling process.
The necessity of guiding the top flaps likewise applies to newly folded and to reused boxes. In addition, reused and partly worn boxes can be deformed due to wear, thus impeding a precise positioning of the gripper heads and significantly increasing the probability of disturbances in the loading or removal process. Such disturbances can involve the gripper head catching on the rim of the box while dipping into the box, for example.